'At least 30 killed' in Pakistan earthquake

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake has hit southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province, with reports at least 30 people have been killed.

Office workers speak on their mobile phones in the street after an earthquake in Karachi forced them to evacuate their workplacesPhoto: RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP

By Associated Press

3:35PM BST 24 Sep 2013

The province in southwest Pakistan is the country's largest but also the least populated.

The death toll ranged from two to at least 30 in early reports. Abdul Wadoos, deputy speaker of the Baluchistan assembly, claimed 30 people died and at least 30 per cent of houses in the Awaran district were destroyed.

The magnitude 7.7 quake hit in the southern part of Baluchistan province, said Pakistan's chief meteorologist, Mohammed Riaz. The US Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. reported the quake as magnitude 7.8.

The quake struck in a remote area of Baluchistan with little population, said the head of Pakistan's Earthquake Centre, Zahid Rafi. He warned of possible aftershocks.

The quake was felt in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, along the Arabian Sea. People in the city's tall office buildings rushed into the streets following the tremor, and Pakistani television showed images of lights swaying as the earth moved.

"I was working on my computer in the office. Suddenly I felt tremors. My table and computer started shaking. I thought I am feeling dizziness but soon realised they were tremors," said one Karachi resident, Mohammad Taimur.

TV footage showed residents in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, coming out of their homes and offices in a panic. One man told Pakistan's Dunya television channel that he was sitting in his office when the building started shaking.

Other residents said people started reciting verses from Islam's holy book, the Koran, when the quake began.

Baluchistan and neighbouring Iran are prone to earthquakes.

A magnitude 7.8, which was centred just across the border in Iran, killed at least 35 people in Pakistan last April.

In January 2011, a 7.2 magnitude quake damaged 200 mud-brick homes in a remote area of Baluchistan about 200 miles southwest of Quetta, not far from the Afghan border but caused no casualties.